Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool

“Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Jesus prayed this before surrendering to the fate of taking on the sins of the world.

On a walk this morning, I was thinking that, from what we see in Scripture, the hardest thing Jesus ever had to do wasn’t going to the cross, but surrendering His will.

Jesus prays that prayer three times. He had made the choice with His mind the first time…I don’t want to do this. Father, if there’s another way, take that route. But if this is what has to be, I want to do it Your way.

But it wasn’t settled in His heart. He had to pray it again. And again.

But He did get it settled and because He did, we can live free from the bondage of sin and in the power of His resurrection.

“Not My will, but Yours” was not about teaching us how to pray. This was Jesus wrestling over fully surrendering His will.

It was the hardest thing He ever had to do.

Is your will surrendered? We should live, like Jesus did, with a humble heart, a worshipful heart, a heart bowed before the Father. But where does your will want to go its own way? Where do you need to surrender?

Let’s apply this to parenting and homeschooling. Have you gotten ideas as to what your children should be when they grow up? That doesn’t have to mean doctor or lawyer, though it certainly applies to that as well. But what about your expectations for what your children should look and act like? What about your expectations for their future education and life path? Have you made goals taken from your own heart or from following the teaching of others?

Have you gotten ideas about what a family should look like and do from reading a book, a blog, watching videos, or just conforming to those around you?

Have you gotten ideas about what homeschooling should look like from others?

Have you surrendered your family, your parenting, your homeschooling to God? Are you willing to give up the image you are after for your children and family and seek only to be transformed into the image of Christ?

Take yourself, your family, your homeschooling, your habits, your attitudes, your ministries, your work, your dreams and goals, all of everything of who you are and that’s in your life, and surrender it up on the altar. Ask for His holy fire to come and consume or purify, either taking it away or consecrating it for His purposes.

His purposes are glorious and wonderous. What He accomplishes is eternal. What we do today only matters here and now unless the Lord breathes His life into it. Then it impacts forever.

“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.” Matthew 6:22

What do you have your eye on? It can be the difference between light and dark.

We’re told a mind set on the things of God is life and peace, but a mind set on this world is death and destruction. What’s your mind on?

We’re told to think on what is lovely and good and praiseworthy. There’s a reason for it.

Is what you are feeding your mind bringing light or darkness into your heart?

Is your media intake bringing life or death into your mind and heart?

Is what you are dwelling on bringing life or death into your mind and heart?

Are you stewing on something someone did or said or what someone didn’t do or say? We’re self-inflicting wounds when we’re embracing unforgiveness, resentment, offense, and other hurts. But we can guard our hearts and bring light into our hearts when we forgive, let go, not take offense in the first place, and have a soft heart of compassion for others.

Where are our eyes in these things?

I can’t find a quote, but it was Elizabeth Elliot I heard say something like, “There’s nothing more depressing than looking at yourself.” We don’t look at ourselves and what we want and think we need from others. Looking inward will darken our eye. We need to look up to let in the light.

But looking up and out isn’t looking to the world and to the news or to entertainments and distractions. Looking up is seeing a God of love who is always good and in control and absolutely perfect in all His ways. It’s having our faces turned to Him so that we reflect the light of His countenance out into the world, receiving His love, but always pouring it back out.

Love God and love others is THE command of the Bible. It’s not just for the sake of God and others. It’s what your heart was made for. It will fill your heart with life and light.

(Scriptures referenced in the first few paragraphs: Romans 8:6, Philippians 3:19, Philippians 4:8)

As I was reading Exodus, I was struck by the thought that the tabernacle, where God was going to dwell, was built from offerings, freewill offerings.

As mothers (and as Christians) we are tasked with building others up. We build those in whom Christ is going to dwell. God tabernacles with us, by His Spirit dwelling in us.

We are building these tabernacles in our homes, these holy places, our children.

The tabernacle was a holy place. It was set apart. It wasn’t to be like everywhere else. We aren’t meant to raise our kids in the culture and follow the whims of the “experts,” which can vary wildly one decade to the next.

God sets out a very particular pattern for His tabernacle. The builders follow the plan to the T.

Don’t you want to know the plan for building these tabernacles and preparing the way for the Lord in their lives?

Don’t look anywhere besides the Lord for a plan, a how-to. No one has God’s plan for your life, that includes you!

There’s only one Man with the plan, the good plan, the best plan, the perfect plan. And it requires only one thing.

Humility.

You can’t do this. You don’t know what to do. You don’t have what you need, except that You have Jesus who is everything, can do all things, and knows all things.

Give your children to God to parent, to teach, to guide, to counsel and offer yourself to be His tool in that however He sees fit. That’s your freewill offering, you, all of you for His perfect purposes.

He does all things well. He makes all things beautiful.

I had to learn this lesson. So, let me say, if you are like me and know there were ways you missed the mark on this one, do not fear. There are no regrets in Christ Jesus. He is Lord even when we mess things up. He was there. He knows how to turn it for good. He does all things well and knows how to make ALL things beautiful.

Luke 1:79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

I released my latest book, The Lord My Shepherd. It’s 30 devotionals going through Psalm 23 phrase by phrase.

In Psalm 23, David talks about the valley of the shadow of death. He doesn’t sit there. He’s going through. He’s going to get to the other side; he’s going to make back out into the light.

We’re not meant to sit in the darkness. We don’t stay in the shadow of death.

If you are living in a shadow of confusion or weariness or any number of looming things that can cast a shadow on our lives, we’re not meant to stay there. Don’t sit down. Keep moving. But where to go?

That’s why we need a shepherd to guide us. That’s why we have a Shepherd to guide us. God meets needs. He comes to the aid of the poor and needy. He comforts the brokenhearted.

There’s a purpose to the shadow, but we won’t find it in the dark. Let Jesus lead you in the way of peace. He’s the good Shepherd and He loves His sheep.

The Lord My Shepherd (available online for free or at Amazon)

Hebrews 11:23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command.

Moses is a hero of the faith. He was a friend of God. He walked in faith and obedience. He had the faith to bring a multitude along with him in following the Lord. He taught God’s children God’s ways. God the Father revealed to him His way and revealed to him His glory. Moses spoke with God face to face and it changed the history of the world.

Hebrews 11 is what we call the Hall of Faith, people in the Bible famous for their faith. Above is the first verse of the Moses section. Each verse will start with his name and talk about how he acted in faith. Except, this first verse isn’t about Moses’ faith. It’s about his parents’ faith. They weren’t afraid of an earthly king. They feared God more. They chose life for their child. This verse shows the parents were in agreement over defying the king’s edict to kill the male children, but it was Moses’ mom who carried out the plan.

Exodus 2:2-4 So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him.

Moses’ mom had the plan and made it happen, in part. We can only do so much. She put the baby where the Egyptian women from the palace would come to bathe. I’m assuming she knew that. God arranged for the daughter of Pharaoh to find him and moved her heart to compassion when others might have killed the baby on sight. And in my favorite part of the story, the faith-filled mom stationed her daughter, Miriam, to watch and to step forward in her own boldness at the right moment to offer to help find a woman to nurse the baby, and Moses’ mom gets paid to nurse and care for her own infant. Wouldn’t I have loved to be paid wages for the countless hours I nursed six children!

This story reminded me of the many homeschool moms who have come to a decision with their husband to homeschool and have taken it upon themselves to put faith into action and carry out the plan.

I hear from many moms that they are finally pulling their kids from school to homeschool. Some admit it had taken awhile to act on what they believed they should do. Some knew they would homeschool, but they are still feeling the need for faith to act.

It’s an act of faith to pull away from the world’s ways, no matter what they are. It’s an act of faith also to pull away from the homeschool community’s ways. You made this decision for your family, not for anyone else, and no one else made the decision for you.

Walk in faith for your family. What does homeschooling look like for you? What’s important for your day? How will everything get done? What part will each person play?

It will be different for each of you. Our youngest is in a wheelchair. He demands a lot more time and attention. I have his older brothers each take a turn with him. They each have something they work on with him. They are willing to step in and help out their younger brother, like Miriam.

But that doesn’t have to be in your story. You are writing your own walk of faith. And your faith is going to impact your children’s faith, which is going to impact the world around them. It starts with a mother’s willingness to put faith into action.

Homeschooling is an act of faith. That doesn’t mean we know how to get the outcome we desire. It means we act in faith, not trusting in ourselves to bear the burden of our children’s futures, but trusting God to bring our children into His glorious purposes for their lives.

P.S. For a Christian who would like to homeschool but can’t, sending your child to school can also be an act of faith. If that’s what God has arranged for your family, then you trust Him in it. You don’t rely on the school to care for and bring your child into their potential; you trust God.